Loosely structured like a two-hour abridgement of what the real-life Devereux chronicled in his book-length case study Reality and Dream, the film gently pushes viewers through the duo's therapy process like a highbrow The King's Speech.

Film Details

Devereux launches personal and anthropologically specific probes of childhood, romantic, and wartime perceptions, unlocking puzzles of trauma and transference and making observational digressions to interpret finger paintings and dreams, which are filmed in a straightforward fashion that flattens their abstract qualities to appear more like "reality."

Amalric's impish dexterity and Del Toro's mild catatonia make for a memorable mismatch, but Jimmy P.'s profound slow burn might be too clinical for some to consider dramatic.